Mayor Lear called the meeting to order asking for an appointment of a Chairperson. Budget Committee member John Lawrence made a motion to appoint Jody Berry as Chairperson, Councilor Christman seconded the motion which passed unanimously.

Jody Berry asked the Budget Officer to proceed with her budget message.

Michele presented a balanced 2015-16 budget in the amount of $10,508,198.00. Michele stated she was very pleased to turn in a balanced budget this year as it has been about 5-6 years of struggle with the budget. She stated that we are in no way flush, our funding is still very limited but we are able to make ends meet.

Michele highlighted upcoming projects such as the Library Handicap Lift project and the Water Improvement project beginning this summer. The city will also be hiring a new Chief of Police. Michele stated that our largest increase this year were Health Insurance, City Liability and Property Insurance and PERS. Michele reported that overall labor negotiations went very well and we have 3 years of signed contracts. Employees received a 1.5% cost of living increase this year, all benefits remained the same.

Michele reviewed the various programs the city has in place that offer financial assistance to the public such as the Motel Tax Fund and the Facade Grant Program. Michele complimented all departments for their dedication in keeping cost down and watching their spending very closely. It is because of that we are pulling out of the recession and starting to see some relief.

Michele asked the Budget Committee and Council if they wanted to go through the budget page by page or just highlight changes since the budget is not much different from last year. It was decided to go through and questions could be asked but not to go through line by line.

There was discussion on the timeline of the water project. Councilor Elliott commented on the high interest payment of $190,000 on the sewer loan and thought the city could have done better. Jody Berry stated she also noticed that. Michele stated that she felt the city did very well considering it was almost an $8 million loan and the interest rate is 2.9% interest from DEQ. No one had any ideas on how that could have been done better.

Michele's proposed budget provided detailed information for each department which made it easy to go through. Budget Committee member Margie Shaw made a motion to approve the budget as presented at $10,508,198.00. Councilor Larry Christman seconded the motion which passed with 8 in favor and Councilor Elliott opposing.